Twice a month, when the last school bells ring, six Dedham Middle School students take a trip to NewBridge on the Charles to spend time with elderly residents and help them with arts and crafts projects.

Together, they have created blankets, gingerbread houses, baked and decorated holiday cookies, played games and made Styrofoam snowmen.

"I find myself being a little bit awkward with people outside my age group, but here people are warm and friendly and easy to talk to," Rena Coben, 14, said Wednesday, Feb. 12. "It’s nice to make other people happy."

But, the 10-week community service outreach program is as much of a learning experience for kids as it is for adults.

According to Joanna Copp, life enhancement coach at NewBridge, residents who have Alzheimer's, dementia, and other memory afflictions, are more at ease when students visit because it reminds them of their families.

"It’s motivating when I say students are coming to visit," Copp said. "I’m often surprised at what they remember."

Frances Katz, a resident at NewBridge, said she looks forward to the middle schoolers’ visits because she always learns new crafts.

"I enjoy them very much," she said while working on a bright green no-sow blanket. "They’re very sweet. We talk about how to make this and we talk about the weather."

When Principal Debra Gately was looking for staff members to launch the program last year, Arlene Tracey, an art teacher at the middle school, jumped right in. Tracey hadn’t visited an Alzheimer’s facility since her mom passed away from the disease 10 years ago. Now, she said, going to NewBridge brightens her day.

"It just felt like home. A touch on somebody’s shoulder can make their day," said Tracey, who is the program’s student coordinator. "They’re the sweetest people. The history behind some of the people here, one of the men was a World War II veteran and worked in the advertising industry at Rockefeller Center. We have a woman who is a Holocaust survivor."

Through the program students have learned how to be sympathetic and carry conversations with senior citizens. During one of the sessions, they used personal photos to engage the seniors and to see how much they would be able to recall, Tracey said.

Eighth-grader Jacque Lewman, 13, said she has learned valuable lessons by volunteering at the assisted living community’s memory support unity.

"I’ve learned that really everyone is capable of doing anything if they want to," she said after creating a no-sow blanket with two seniors. "Coming here every week and seeing that if they’re struggling with anything and if they want to do it, they find a way to do it."

Rena, an eighth grade student, said the Alzheimer’s patients have taught her the power of storytelling.

Page 2 of 2 - "You hear little bits and pieces from them," she said. "You hear different pieces of a story. The woman over there is a Holocaust survivor and she has told me how her family was killed and she somehow got out. It’s got a message of hope because she got out."

And for Marley Belanger, 14, going to NewBridge feels like visiting a group of friends.

"Friendship knows no age barrier and can overcome a mental illness," said the eighth-grader, who has been volunteering since last year.

Staff writer Sara Feijo can be reached at 781-433-8336 or sfeijo@wickedlocal.com. Follow @s_fjo on Twitter. Like The Dedham Transcript on Facebook and follow @DedhamTranscrip on Twitter.